Thirteen LDN,
Soho
Thirteen is the cocktail bar at Chateau Denmark, on Soho’s Denmark Street. Behind its bold, theatrical room sits a 5.8 metre stainless steel underbar, built to keep pace with a full house late into the night.
Client
Chateau Denmark
Location
Soho, London
Our scope
Underbar
Completed
December 2022
Interior design
GRAPES
In partnership with
Caw Ventures
Photography
Michael Franke
The brief
Chateau Denmark opened Thirteen in 2023 as a reimagining of the hotel bar, operated by Caw Ventures and designed by Grapes. It is a room of rich textures, dark tones and eclectic detail, with a teal conversation chair at its centre, a spirits list that runs from rare mezcals to Scotch whisky, and Japanese inspired dining across its 60 covers.
With cocktails at the heart of the offer and a room that fills late into the night, Thirteen needed a bar that could keep pace with a full house while living up to the drama around it.
Designed with GRAPES
We worked closely with Darren Grapes and Caw Ventures on Thirteen, alongside its sister bar, DIAL8, for Chateau Denmark. Decisions about the bar were shared from the outset between the people shaping how it looks and the people who would run it.
Thirteen is a cocktail bar through and through, which let our designers bring their full expertise to the layout, balancing the theatre the guest sees with the practical workflow behind it.
Designing the workstation
The 5.8 metre underbar is built around insulated, compartmented cocktail stations with space for ice, bottles, a preparation sink and a double speed rail, alongside flat counters for preparation and the tills.
Above it runs a brushed brass service rail, with gratings and integrated plumbing, that carries the warmth of the room down to the working surface.
A cocktail station with insulated ice well, preparation sink, garnish rail and speed rail
The stainless steel underbar with patinated brass service rail
Incorporated champagne ice buckets set into the bartop
The bar within the room, with its red stools and booths
The detail guests remember is in the bartop, where champagne ice buckets are set into the bar itself. The bottle sits chilled in the very surface the guest leans on, a small piece of theatre built into the architecture.
Behind the scenes, a 2.5 metre stainless steel back of house with drained counters, gratings and a wash up sink keeps the room supplied, supported by bottle coolers and a glasswasher. The bar was designed in-house and installed in December 2022.
“The level of detail for the final finish is only as good as the advice that they gave throughout the project, which was incredibly professional and insightful.”
Alan Petrie, Chateau Denmark and Caw Ventures